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Friday, July 26, 2013

SAVE THE EGGS!

Eggs can be as irresistible to hens as they are to us. Once a hen has learned to crack an egg, it is often difficult to catch and stop her of this practice.

There are a few ways to discourage egg eating—

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Make sure the feed is meeting their nutritional requirements.

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Blow out an egg and fill it with mustard. When the hens break it open, they will be sorely disappointed.

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Place a wooden or ceramic egg in the nest box. They will be unable to crack it and will eventually learn to leave the eggs alone.

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Use nest boxes with roll out trays. After the hen lays the egg, it will roll down the tray and into a collection box. There it safely lays until someone arrives to collect the eggs.

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If possible, collect eggs frequently while the hens are laying—so there's less time for breakage and egg eating.

See the video above for ChickBox assembly instructions.

We found the ChickBox™ with a roll out tray to be easy to assemble and install in our coop. Just the right amount of bedding is needed with the roll out tray. Too much bedding will prevent the eggs from rolling into the tray, but if there is too little bedding the hens may not choose to lay in the box. To prevent roosting on top of the ChickBox, we installed a slanted board.

For us, the ChickBox increases egg hygiene and speeds up egg collection. This system keeps eggs clean because they slowly roll out into the front tray after the hen steps out of the nest. The cover flap on the roll-out tray prevents any egg pecking or soiling from occurring.